For those of you that were able to watch the Mariners-Yankees game Wednesday night, you were all treated to a spectacle from every aspect of the game from the Mariners. The M’s won their second in a row in New York against the first-place Yankees 7-0 last night, and exemplified that the 1-2 punch between Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez is potentially the best in baseball.
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After a remarkable complete game performance from Cliff Lee Tuesday night, it was Hernandez’ turn to take the reins and try to one-up his teammate. After a rough first inning, throwing 22 pitches and an advancing Derek Jeter off of two passed balls, Felix was able to bounce back and provide one of the best starts of the season.
Hernandez finished the night with a complete game shut-out, allowing only two hits (although the FSN Mariners Post-Game crew admits that a mishap by Chone Figgins in the bottom of the 5th actually made it a 1-hitter by Felix), and finishing the night with a season-high 11 strikeouts.
Even more impressive than Felix’s performance, was the Mariner offense that took full advantage of a struggling Javier Vazquez. The M’s finished the night with 7 runs off of 9 hits. 4 of those 9 hits left the yard in the Yankees’ little league ballpark, one each from Milton Bradley (8) and Russell Branyan (11), and two from Michael Saunders (7).
The Mariners finish the month of June with a record of 14-13, and more importantly winning 9 of their last 12 dating back to June 12th.
Tomorrow’s matinee matchup and series finale against the Yankees proves to be significant, especially for starting pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith (1-7, 6.18), who takes the mound against imperial LHP C.C. Sabathia (9-3, 3.49). With the return of Erik Bedard looming closer next week, Hyphen will need to have an impressive performance on the road if he wants any chance of maintaining his role in the M’s starting rotation.
The M’s will go for an improbable series sweep against the Yankees tomorrow afternoon, and hopefully will start the month of July on the right foot. Tomorrow’s game is scheduled for an early 10:05am pitch time in the Bronx.
Reach Jacob Kehle at nextseasonsports@gmail.com
